Exemplary embodiments of invention relate to a light arrangement, in particular for the rear of a vehicle, having two controllable rear lamps and a controllable, illuminated decorative strip, and a decorative strip provided with a lighting means, the decorative strip being adapted in a particular manner for the light arrangement.
A decorative strip having a back lamp is known from German patent document DE102012025490 A1, paragraphs 24 and 44. The back lamp is located behind the decorative strip, seen from the visible side. The decorative strip itself has a metallic surface that is applied by vapor deposition with aluminum or chromium. The layer thickness is chosen such that a transillumination of the layer is possible with the lighting means. The strip base body is made from plastic. The decorative strip includes the corresponding assembly means, in order to fasten it to the bumper of the vehicle. Furthermore, the illumination of the decorative strip can be controlled. The lighting means is controlled by proximity sensors installed in the bumper. A background illumination at the rear of the vehicle is thus achieved, which switches on when a vehicle user approaches the rear and, for example, wants to open the rear cover or the trunk of the vehicle.
An accessory for a vehicle is known from German patent document DE 10 2014 016250 A1. The accessory serves for the indirect side illumination of the vehicle and illuminates the vehicle door, the vehicle running board or the side skirt of the vehicle. The illumination itself takes place with an optical fiber element, into which light from a lighting means is integrated. A so-called ambient illumination of the vehicle is accomplished with the accessory. The accessory also assumes the function of a decorative strip. The lighting itself may, however, have no direct radiation for other road users, rather may only be visible via indirect illumination. The problem of transillumination of a chromium-plated decorative strip therefore does not exist with ambient illumination.
The above-mentioned illuminated decorative strips thus fulfil respective independent lighting tasks. An adaptation to the rear lamps of the vehicle or an interaction of the lighting of the rear lamps and a decorative strip is not known therefrom.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are directed to a light arrangement for the rear illumination of a vehicle, in which an illuminated decorative strip lights up together with the rear lamps, and rear lamps and decorative strip enable a creative and functional design element for the rear of the vehicle by day and by night.
According to an embodiment, a light arrangement involves two vehicle rear lamps and an illuminated decorative strip, which are aligned to each other both functionally and creatively. For this purpose, the decorative strip has a light outlet provided with a covering glass, under which an optical fiber is guided. The covering glass is provided with a translucent chromium foil from the outside. The base body of the decorative strip is likewise chromium-plated on its surface. The optical fiber, the lighting means and the control of the lighting means as well as the connections to the power supply are integrated into the base body of the decorative strip. Power supply and control of the optical fiber are coupled to the power supply and the control of the rear lamps. Here, the coupling relates to temporal coupling with regards to the joint lighting-up. Furthermore, the color selection, which can be adjusted by the control of the lighting means and is fed into the optical fiber, can be aligned to the rear lamps with regards to intensity and color impression.
Thus, the following advantages can be achieved: The design of the vehicle rear can be enhanced with a decorative strip aligned to the rear lamps. The decorative strip can be adjusted with regards to intensity and color selection independently of the control of the rear lamps of the vehicle by the decorative strip having its own control for intensity and color selection of the lighting means, and thus for the color impression appearing through the translucent chromium foil from the outside. This is important, as the color impression appearing from the outside is affected by the translucent chromium foil. The perceptible light intensity from the outside thus cannot simply be taken over or derived from an intensity adjustment of the rear lamps. In the day design, when rear lamps and decorative strip are not illuminated, the decorative strip furthermore fulfils its decorative function through the chromium plating of the decorative strip base body and the translucent chromium foil applied to the covering glass. The decorative strip in the illuminated state can be clearly offset from the third brake rear lamp of a vehicle by the adjustable color selection. The decorative strip can be aligned in intensity in its perception both to the ambient light conditions and to the perception of the rear lamps.
In an embodiment of the invention, the separated controls for the lighting means of the decorative strip and a rear lamp are in separate control units. A control unit is thus integrated in the decorative strip and a control unit is integrated into each rear lamp. This has advantages mainly in the production or assembly of the vehicles on the manufacturer's belt. Decorative strip and rear lamps can be manufactured, set, programmed and delivered by different manufacturers and finally delivered to the belt as components for assembling on the vehicle, the components being fully functional and already aligned to one another.
In another embodiment of the invention, both decorative strip and rear lamps have their own control units and their own control programs; however, the coordination of the aligned color selection and the intensity control takes place only from the control unit of the rear lamps. For this purpose, a program module is then implemented in the control unit, the module coordinating the two control units of decorative strip and rear lamp. This has advantages when the vehicle manufacturer wants to do most of the alignment themselves. The number of control units to be flashed can be thus be reduced, in particular in the case of flashing the control units on the manufacturing belt, if flashing is carried out personally. However, there is also the possibility of the control units being delivered to the belt already flashed. Then, of course, the aforementioned variant of consistently independent control has advantages.
In another embodiment of the invention, the rear lamps have an additional design element corresponding in shape and color to the decorative strip in the illuminated state. This can be an optical fiber incorporated into the rear lamp covering, whose color and light intensity can be adjusted by the control unit. This increases the uniform perception of the light arrangement of rear lamps and illuminated decorative strip and thus reduces, if necessary, irritation of other road users. In particular, it further reduces the likelihood of confusion of the illuminated decorative strip and the third brake light. If necessary, a joint functional and design element in rear lamps and decorative strip also enables the joint registration of the light arrangement during the vehicle registration. Advantageously, a new light functionality can be achieved by an aligned, respectively illuminated design element in rear lamps and decorative strip. For example, a daytime running light for the vehicle rear can be accomplished by the joint design elements.
In an embodiment of the invention, so-called RGB LEDs are used as lighting means. In other words, these are three light-emitting diodes having the base colors of red, green and blue, which are attached together on a board having associated control electronics and feed their light into the optical fiber of the decorative strip. By changing the color composition or changing the individual light intensities of the individual colors, a color selection can be achieved which, after passing through the translucent chromium foil, corresponds to the color impression of individual design elements in the rear lamps. A color selection for the decorative strip can also be advantageously set, which differs significantly from the red of the brake light function. If necessary, manufacturers can make specific color compositions having a higher recognition value. This enables a manufacturer to set a specific color selection which, if it prevails, indicates the vehicle make or the vehicle manufacturer.
In an embodiment of the invention, the light arrangement consists of two rear lamps and a decorative strip having two optical fibers, wherein each rear lamp is coupled to an optical fiber.
In another embodiment, the light arrangement consists of two rear lamps and a decorative strip having an optical fiber, wherein the optical fiber is only coupled to a rear lamp.
In a further embodiment, the optical fiber consists of two respectively divided rear lamps and two illuminated decorative strips coupled to the parts of the rear lamps, the rear lamps being located on the rear cover of the vehicle to which the two decorative strips are attached.
In a further embodiment, the light arrangement consists of two respectively divided rear lamps and an illuminated decorative strip, wherein the decorative strip is coupled to a part of the rear lamps that is located on the rear cover together with the decorative strip.